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Tuesday, June 17, 2003

George Radwanski looks to be on his way out, though he says he will not go quietly. The committee does seem to be making a big issue of two things - anomalies in expenses (they seem to think he's been stretching his travel budget unreasonably) and an altered paragraph in a letter about access to information. The latter, the Commissioner says, was an admin error - seems like a reasonable explanation but if you've got folk who are suspicious of you investigating you, it's not wise to provide that kind of ammunition. Mr Radwanski's suggestion is that the government don't like him because he is doing his job too well. Maybe the best form of defense is attack. I've been impressed in the past by Radwanski's committment to sound privacy principles but there isn't enough detailed information in the public domain about this investigation to make a judgement as to whether he has a real case to answer or whether it is a case of machiavelian manoeuverings on the part of political opponents that we are seeing here. It would be a pity to see a principled advocate of privacy protection brought down by silly mistakes or nasty politics. IF there are serious questions to be answered, from my limited knowledge of the man, I always figured him for the kind of guy who would fall on his sword. I await developments with interest.

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